‘I was not invited’

LIVE LAUGH LOVE: A thoughtfully crafted personalised gift from Jocelyn, a friend who never fails to amaze me and makes me feel welcomed whether in her real home or her cyber home.

ON Merdeka Day at 7.07am, Sibu MP Wong Ho Leng tweeted: “Sibu is the centre of Merdeka celebration in Swk. No opposition MPs/ADUNs were invited to event tho we have majority support here!”

I sensed the bitterness – being singled out, left out and not respected.

It was the second time Ho Leng tweeted “I was not invited.”

The first was on Merdeka Eve: “Reporters asked. But no. I have not been invited to attend the Merdeka Day celebration at Sibu town square w CM Taib.”

A while later, his facebook friend asked: “Will you invite BN in the unlikely event Pakatan takes over?”

That’s it!

In the Parti Keadilan Rakyat-led state of Selangor, the Sultan was not invited to its state-organised Merdeka Day celebration.

Pointing out that no proper respect had been accorded His Royal Highness, the Prime Minister said: “It is not surprising that the Selangor government did not respect the Sultan as they would rather respect their economic adviser Anwar who has no locus standi.”

A police report was even lodged by Selangor state BN chairman Abu Bakar Yahya who felt “insulted the Sultan was not invited, yet Anwar was given the opportunity to speak.”

As tension continues to mount ahead of the imminent general election, we begin to see more people dripping their inconsolable hurt of “I was not invited” on the shoulders of some of the lucky invitees.

As leaders (BN or PR) hold the people hostage over their sore feelings, it is really not surprising to see youths being influenced by the wrong message being sent across.

In the August 30 incident, several youths stomped on the pictures of Najib and his wife Rosmah during the Merdeka Eve gathering at Dataran Merdeka.

Ong Sing Yee, 19, who turned herself in as a manhunt for those involved began, claimed her act was not ill-intended.

Should we describe Sing Yee’s act as “having seditious tendency to arouse hatred or contempt, or to excite disaffection against the Prime Minister and his wife?”

What great hatred has a young girl like her against the Prime Minister and his wife whom she probably has never met before?

The more acceptable reason would be as what she had explained: “I was only curious when I saw others doing that, so I followed suit. I did not know it was seditious.”

We could take it that she saw others doing it on the spot and got carried away on the spur of the moment but could Sing Yee also have been influenced by some leaders?

Let’s see what the leaders – again both BN and PR – had done in recent months.

The act of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng “happily” stepping on the portraits of BN leaders was caught on camera and widely circulated in the Net.

Widely circulated too were Guan Eng’s posters being burnt and stomped on. He was also given a cake shaped like faeces and a mock funeral was staged in front of his house.

What is our society turning into?

If our politicians or so-called leaders were to continue acting in such despicable manner for political mileage, how could we expect our young not to be influenced into aping them?

With such sickening “street mentality” displayed by jerks on both sides of the fence, it is not surprising that our youths have not paused to evaluate whether their actions actually tarnished their self-respect, dignity and pride.

After all, those who should know better aren’t exactly saints or angels themselves.

Are our misguided young losing their perspective? It seems disturbingly so when you consider they treat the act of stomping on the pictures of leaders very lightly and as rightful.

They live in a phantasmagorical world – an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ existence where everything is out of proportion. A world of fantasy and surrealism!

They become hostile, fierce, hateful and dangerous. They actually breathe out anger and hatred!

So, being left out should be an inherently grown-up phenomenon. Most of us have been both victims and perpetrators of “I was not invited.”

Yes, you are missing the celebrations as a VIP but that’s usually the least of your pains.

Ho Leng might not have realised it but as a “follower” of his tweets, I discovered he actually received a welcome in another crowd – which was just as meaningful, if not more.